Adobe Content Server Accessibility Update

by Andrew Kirkpatrick, Group Product Manager, Accessibility

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The Adobe Digital Publishing team released updates yesterday – Adobe Content Server 4.1 and Reader Mobile 9.2 SDK. Of primary significance to accessibility, Content Server includes a new permission setting for Text To Speech which will provide the ability to indicate if a book can be voiced by a ‘Read Out Loud’ feature of a ebook reader.

Access technologies for people with disabilities use TTS, but this is considered a different case, and the upcoming Digital Editions 2.0 will provide the ability for assistive technologies that utilize the operating system’s accessibility API (e.g. screen reading software such as Window-Eyes, JAWS, VoiceOver, or NVDA) to read book content whether the TTS permission is enabled or disabled. This ensures that print-disabled users have the same fundamental access to eBook content as non-disabled users. However, devices with ‘Read Out Loud’ functions not dedicated to the support of people with disabilities are expected to honor the TTS permission’s setting.